Design Issues I

Plain Language Layout and Design

By Cheryl Stephens

Appearances count. The documents that get read are those that:

	Appear easy to read
	Appear interesting
	Appear brief
	Appear important

If the layout of your document makes reading it difficult, only the most committed readers will try to overcome the obstacles. Good layout not only removes obstacles to reading but also exposes good organization. Design of text on a page can enhance the language-it can physically show the relationships between ideas or things.

Some of the obstacles to reading are:

	The centering of headings and other textual components.
	The arbitrary changing of the internal spacing of the material in order to force the text to fill out a fixed depth and width.
	The inconsistent grouping or ordering of elements.
	The excessive use of indentation, suggesting paragraph breaks where they aren't really needed.
	An excessive variety in sizes, styles, and weights of typefaces for heading levels.

At this stage in the writing process, the audience analysis you did earlier will guide you in making decisions about appropriate graphic design for the particular audience. Your constraints will also come to bear on the project at this time:

	Are there format restrictions for this type of document?
	Are there limits on length?
	Are there other limits such as:
		Time?
		Budget?
		Availability of staff?
		Accessiblity to equipment?

The components of graphic design are:

	Structure, topical divisions
	Type, size and style
	White space, margins and open spaces
	Special treatments, for emphasis
	Paper, type and color

In recent years, much research has gone into the design aspects of publishing. Desktop publishing, presentation graphics, forms design, and other techniques require expertise which is seldom available in most offices.

Design is the area where legal writing faces its most limiting constraints. There is very little room to manoeuvre in the confines of the prescribed forms and traditional formats. Yet with some basic information about the most modern techniques, you will be able to make maximum use of the design tools available to you.

Your office word-processing system should have the ability to handle these design features:

	Choice of typeface
	Capitalization
	Bullets and daggers
	White space
	Quotation marks
	Bold face
	Indentation

Keep in mind these two basic human characteristics:

1. The eye is first attracted by the largest, most dominant matter on the page.
2. Absent any special feature or guide to eye movement, the eye will start slightly off center and travel in a clockwise direction.

The Basic Rules of Graphic Design

Type Face and Size

The term typeface refers to the family of lettering which is used, such as Times Roman, Arial, or Courier. There are two basic kinds of typefaces: Â-Roman (serif) and Gothic (sans serif). Times Roman is a typical serif typeface, while Arial is a typical sans-serif typeface. In a printer's terminology, a font is a variation of a certain typeface, and includes normal, italic, bold, and italic bold. In Microsoft literature, fonts are known as typeface styles.

Serif and san serif are important considerations. Roman types have serifs-the distinctive short lines stemming from and at an angle to the upper and lower strokes of a letter.

This text is in Arial, a popular sans-serif typeface using proportional spacing. Sans-serif typefaces are often used in Web pages because of their legibility when displayed on monitors.

This text is in Courier typeface, a monospaced serifed typeface once popular in typewriters and now very popular with designers.

This text is in Times Roman, a proportionally spaced serif typeface that is very legible in printed documents.

The Romans left this serif when finishing with the chisel. The Gothic or Modern style eliminates this line and has a stark appearance. Serifed type is easier to read because the serif makes the letter more easily recognized.

The size of the typeface is another important issue. The "fine print" in legal documents which has been decried for years is usually smaller than 8 point. Most people are comfortable reading 10 point or larger. People who have reached the age of bifocals find a larger type size more comfortable-10 to 12 point.

White or Blank Space

The text and artwork is called positive space in a layout. The white space which surrounds text is the negative space. Think of the white space framing and flowing through your text. Modern word-processing systems offer a multitude of ways to alter the traditional amount of white space.

Margins should be at least 1 inch on top, bottom, left and right margins. The text line length should be no more than 5 inches wide. Other white space can be achieved by using relatively short paragraphs, varying the size of paragraphs, using sub-heads and indentations, and making indented lists of items.

The white space between text lines must avoid a cramped appearance making the text hard to read, but must not be so deep as to destroy a sense of continuity. The distance between lines of text should be 70% to 80% of the height of the type print. Triple spacing between lines of text is excessive. With word processing programs you can set the "line spacing" in increments anywhere between 1 and 2.

While ample white space is essential to make your document readable, it should not appear as waste space. There is a fine line between enough white space and what looks like awkward, wasted space. White space makes your document attractive and highlights important relationships in the text. But don't let yourself become so involved in the negative space that you lose sight of more substantial concerns.

Capitals and Lowercase

Capital letters begin sentences and proper names. Any other uses should be reconsidered. Use of lowercase facilitates recognition of words. Capitalized words are rectangular blocks and a full line of them becomes a box of horizontal lines. Capitalized words may be used as headings or for emphasis, but should be kept to a minimum. Don't include units of more than three or four capitalized words in text.

Words in lowercase have distinctive shapes which we recognize. Lowercase letters have characteristics described as ascenders and descenders -- the heads and tails of letters which make them distinctive.

The Length of the Line

The optimum length of line of text is the one that is most comfortable for eye movements. Shorter lines increase the number of eye movements while longer lines make it harder to keep your eye on the correct line. The best length lies somewhere between 3 1/2 inches and 5 inches. This can vary from 40 to 70 letters or character spaces per inch depending on the chosen typeface and typesize. Whenever possible in legal documents, columns are the preferable way to layout text.

Margins are determined by the need for white space and the optimum width of text line. Ragged right margins make text easier to read. The eye can use the variation in line endings to help keep track as the eye moves down the text. Ragged right margins permit the spacing between words and between letters in words to remain constant and regular. Justified right margins require the word processing program to alter the spacing between letters and words to stretch the text to the right margin.

Justified left margins are common practice and preferable. Word-processing programs have made centered titles easier to use, but this is not the best way to layout several lines of text. Whenever possible, place headings and subheadings at the left margin. In a table of contents, the page numbers should be set out in the left column rather than the right.

Lists and Tabulations

Lists can make text items as easy to read as tables of numbers. The items must be similar in nature, parallel in form and of equal importance. Lists are a visual way to focus information. Review your draft for suitable lists embedded in the text. Lists should include at least 3 items and not more than 7. People remember things better in groups of 3 and with more than 7 focus of the list is lost.

Use these formatting options to set lists off from text:

	Spacing to establish a separate unit.
	Indentation, at the left only or both left and right.
	Numerical or alphabetic listing where you want to prioritize the items.
	Special characters where there is no priority, such as:
		Asterisks -- the easiest emphasis
		Bullets -- for short lists of short phrases
		Dashes -- for longer lists of sentences or paragraphs
		Boxes -- for checklists or when ticking the box is useful
	Double-column format for long lists of short items

Columns

Shorter columns are easier to read than text which is spread 6.5 inches across an 8.5 by 11-inch page. A shorter single column is easiest to read, but the number of words to fit on the page may dictate the use of two columns.

Paper

Paper size and colour are usually dictated by the form of document. Other factors to consider are:

	Bulk weight, thickness of individual sheets
	Density or opacity
	Finish, dull or glossy
	Colour

Colour

Colour can be used in paper, type, graphics or background.

Coloured paper can maximize the contrast between the type image and the paper. If the document will be photocopied, then white is preferable. Otherwise, a pale yellow offers the best contrast without glare. Although the vivid orange-yellow sold as "goldenrod" is cheaper than other coloured papers, older people and those with poor eyesight have difficulty reading black print on goldenrod, and they can even experience nausea.

There is also colour psychology to consider. Reds, oranges and yellows give a feeling of warmth while greens, blues and violets are perceived as cool colors. Younger audiences respond well to warmer colours while mature audiences prefer the cooler colours.

There are also cultural issues with colours. In Europe and North America, we associate white with youth, marriage and beginnings. In Japan and India white is the funeral colour having the same connotation as black does here.

Different professions respond differently to colour. Red may excite moviegoers, but it is negative to accountants, healthy to doctors and danger to engineers. Yellow is happiness to movie- goers, importance to financiers, jaundice to medicos and caution for engineers. Pale green represents calm repose.

The Citibank simplified bank note was printed with the text in a subdued green type. The title and the major dividing lines were in black and the paper was a pale buff.

Graphics

A picture is worth a thousand words -- trite but true. While tables are effective for actual numbers, graphics can show trends, directions, comparisons, and inter-relationships. Graphics include:

	Bar charts
	Line graphs
	Pie charts
	Diagrams
	Line drawings
	Logos
	Maps
	Illustrations

© 2000 Cheryl Stephens All rights reserved.

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